Bringing in a large paycheck does not guarantee that you’re financially secure. Your financial position can still be precarious. A sudden expense or a change in your income could change everything and send you into a panic.

So, what can you do to gain financial security? Here are five tips:

1. Start an Emergency Fund

Financial security doesn’t just mean that you’re fine when money is flowing and nothing is going wrong. It means that you’re fine when things are going wrong. You can withstand obstacles and recover quickly. Your financial situation isn’t delicate. 

One way that you can help yourself manage financial obstacles without flinching is to set up an emergency fund. An emergency fund is a collection of personal savings that you can use to cover urgent and unexpected expenses, like home repairs and car repairs. 

The biggest benefit of an emergency fund is that you pull savings from it and cover an expense without disrupting your budget. You don’t have to worry about how the payment will affect your ability to manage other essentials. You will be able to pay your bills for the rest of the month without an issue. 

If you really want to be safe, you can build up your emergency fund so that it can support you during major emergencies, like losing your job. You can use these savings to supplement your income during the difficult time and cover all of your essential expenses.

How much should you save up? Many financial experts recommend that you should aspire to save between three to six months’ worth of expenses in your fund. If you want to add even more to it, you should.

2. Get a Line of Credit

An emergency fund takes time to build up. The fund won’t have enough to cover most unexpected expenses until you’ve made multiple contributions. It won’t be a reliable safety net for a little while. 

So, what can help you manage a financial obstacle? To increase your financial security, you should apply for a personal line of credit. It will make a good back-up plan.

A personal line of credit is an open-end credit tool that can be extremely useful for emergencies. If you’re approved for a line of credit, you can request a withdrawal within your credit limit. If your request is approved, that amount will be deposited into your bank account in a short amount of time. 

How do you get one? Go to the website CreditFresh to see if you meet all of the essential qualifications for a line of credit. If you do, it might be time to send in an application. You may get approved. 

3. Get Insurance

Insurance is another safety net that you can set up for yourself to gain more financial security. It can help you manage the costs of major expenses that your budget — and even your emergency fund — might not be able to cover. It can protect you from going broke over situations that you can’t afford. 

The most important type of insurance that you should get is health insurance. Medical bills are a very common source of debt in this country. Many uninsured Americans are overwhelmed by how much they owe for the healthcare they received. One study from 2019 found that two-thirds of Americans who filed for bankruptcy cited medical issues as a major cause for their insurmountable debt problems. 

You don’t want to be a part of that unlucky group if you can help it. Get as much coverage as you can reasonably afford so that you’re well-protected in a medical emergency. 

4. Start Your Retirement Fund 

What often offers people a sense of financial security is their income. They have paychecks coming in every couple of weeks, which helps them cover all of their needs and save for the future. But what happens when they don’t work anymore? They won’t have a steady or significant source of income to rely on. 

This is what happens during your retirement years. You won’t have any paychecks coming in to support your lifestyle, and you won’t be in the right shape to work a full-time job. 

To make sure that you stay financially secure well into the future, you should start saving up for your retirement years as soon as possible. By contributing to your retirement fund early, you can guarantee that you’ll accrue more savings over time and create an excellent nest egg for your future self. That way, you’ll live comfortably throughout your golden years using your savings, along with any other government benefits you qualify for.  

5. Tackle Debt

You can’t be financially secure and saddled with severe debt at the same time. It can’t work. Your debt will always undermine your financial security and threaten to sabotage your savings goals and budgeting plans. If you want to feel completely stable financially, you should tackle any major debts to the best of your abilities. 

You don’t have to rush to eliminate them. Paying them down too aggressively could backfire. You’ll want to come up with a manageable approach. Look into the snowball debt repayment method to see whether it appeals to you. It’s a slow and steady strategy that can help you eliminate your debts without causing too much stress.

Not all debts are equal in this scenario. You don’t have to race to pay down your mortgage in order to get that debt off your shoulders. As long as you’re capable of making your mortgage payments every month, you should be fine. However, a credit card with a steep balance or personal loan that you haven’t paid down should be at the top of your priority list. These have interest rates that will force the outstanding balances to grow quickly. You’ll want to address those as soon as possible. 

You want to be able to weather any financial problem without breaking a sweat. By taking these five steps, you can make that happen.